Day 37: July 2, 2012 ~ Feeding the Wolves

Day 37: July 2, 2012 ~ Feeding the Wolves

"There is only one righteousness: Water the fruit trees; don't water the thorns."

~Rumi

I'm sure you have heard this story, but it's a great illustration. There is a Cherokee legend that goes like this:

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Isn't it wonderful how we have choice in our lives, about which wolf we choose to feed? Take any one of those "evil" wolves...regret or guilt for instance. What does it serve to nurture that wolf? Do we think it is noble? Do we think feeling guilt will do anything at all to rectify a situation? What if we were to nourish thoughts of serenity or compassion instead, which includes compassion toward ourselves for doing the best we could given the consciousness we had at the time, as well as compassion toward another..as we are all doing the best we can given our current level of awareness. This opens the way for healing.

Or what about self-pity...who among us has not nurtured a grudge or looked for sympathy from others from time to time as a way of trying to gather support? What if we were to feed the wolf of truth instead—looking honestly at our own part in the creation of a difficult situation or relationship, taking full ownership of our beliefs and actions, knowing that our thoughts and beliefs create our reality. How much more empowering that is!

I'm intimately acquainted with both of these wolves, and I am choosing more and more these days to feed the second one. The great thing is, every day presents new opportunities to practice! The difficult or challenging relationships in our lives are the ones that offer the greatest opportunity for growth and transformation...but only if we feed the right wolf!